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Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Pandan & Coconut

What do you get when you pair off pandan leaves with coconut milk?

What comes right to my mind are: Nasi Lemak (rice cooked with coconut milk and pandan leaves), Kaya jam, Chendol and Pandan Chiffon cake. Do you know of other dishes which are created using these two ingredients?

To make a pandan chiffon cake has always been on my to-do list...in fact it is meant to be my first chiffon cake. I didn't get around to do it as most of the recipes call for the use of pandan juice, which you get by blending the pandan leaves with some water. Well, a blender is something that I do not have...and don't think I will buy one in the near future...as I know myself too well ...this piece of equipment will likely end up sitting in some dark corners in my kitchen cabinets.

With much encouragement and useful tips from my cyberfriend, vb, I managed to get around with the problem. The solution is this Koepoe Koepoe brand of pandan essence...with this, pandan juice is really not necessary.

Armed with the recipe shared by Baking Mum, I went about making my first pandan cake. Although her recipe is meant for a 18cm pan, I made the same amount for my my 16cm pan, and baked the remaining batter with muffin cups.

Hoping with greed to achieve a 'tall and mighty' cake, I filled my tiny pan almost 90% full! As a result, the cake surface erupted and cracked all over. The batter simply didn't have room to expand! Thanks to my equally tiny oven, I forgot to 'tent' the cake with a foil before it got burnt a little :(

The bottom or rather the top of the chiffon cake was much better...

except for the holes that I have made while trying to unmold it before it was completely cool off. You really need tonnes of patience with chiffon!

Other than the not too desirable appearance, the cake was moist, fluffy and 'springy',best described by the Chinese term "弹性". The 'sizzling" sound made while I was slicing it was very obvious. Yes, if you listen carefully, there is this sound produced when u slice a chiffon cake...not sure whether this is a good sign though? The pandan taste was not that apparently as I would expect...maybe it was because I only used 1/4 teaspoon of the pandan essence instead of recommended amount. I was advised by vb that too much of the essence, will make the colour of the cake looks like some science experiment went wrong, which I strongly agree!

As the recipe only used up 100ml of the coconut milk...I had to think of ways and means to use the balance 100ml...and so, I came up with this pandan loaf:

I fall back on this rather well received and reliable milk loaf recipe... I replaced the fresh milk with the remaining 100ml of coconut milk and top up with 50ml of water. Just like the chiffon cake, I only added in a 1/4 teaspoon of the pandan essence.

I played around a little with the shaping of the loaf bread...

I happened to come across this shaping method, which is actually meant for a bun, from a cookbook...after rolling out the dough into the shape of a large rectangle, I cut stripes on the shorter side of the dough, before rolling it up like a swiss roll. It was quite a futile effort as the stripes were not that prominent after the loaf was baked.

Once again, this recipe didn't fail me. I am not sure whether you will be convinced, just by looking at these photos, that the texture of this bread was almost comparable to it's chiffon counterpart.

It was light, soft and very airy. Although the pandan essence was very subtle in this loaf, but the overall taste was simply fabulous, especially with a generous spread of kaya jam. Another great way to combine pandan with coconut!

89 comments:

HHB, looks like you have better luck on pandan bread than me. I tried baking one with real pandan juice (don't feel like using paste). Tried it twice, but still not desirable. sigh...I'm giving up on that and moving on.

pandan chiffon cake has been on my to-do-list for a very long time. I bought some pandan extract from Singapore & Malaysia back here, then realised everyone is using the pandan essense. :( The color on your bread and chiffon is really very distinct.

Hi hhbaker,I've tried bread making on 5 occasions so far using your milk loaf and none came out right. :( They had a weird smell (imagine alcohol swab the nurse use) and the texture is rubbery hard. I was wondering if you could share what brand of yeast you use and how u manage to get the soft and fluffy texture? I tried making by hand because I do not have a bread machine. Do u think perhaps i did not knead the dough enough or did I over knead it?

Also, I read from some place that for bread making u need "fermented dough". Have you heard of that before and do u use that? Is that the reason why my bread turned out wrong? Sorry to trouble u, I'm more of a cake and cookie baker than a bread baker. Thanks! :)

SSB, thanks! You can get the pandan essence from Sun Lik, it's $3 a bottle. The essence comes with the green colouring, so it is not necessary to add green colouring. Besides pandan chiffon, you can always use it for muffins, cakes, bread and even cookies...just treat it like vanilla essence ;)

Elyn, you can count on Baking Mum's recipes...she's really good!

Mandy, oh, how disappointing! I guess it is not easy to get pandna leaves over at your place? You may want to purchase this essence online?

Thanks Ellena!

Hi Sweet-tooth, fortunately, I didn't add too much of the essence, the colour looks just right!

Hi Cookie Monster, I am sorry to hear about your failed attempts! I use instant yeast under the brand "Baker's King", that comes in a small plastic container.

Did you have luck with other recipes? I have used this recipe to knead the dough by hand (please see my other post on Matcha Red Bean loaf, I have taken a few step-by-step photos to illustrate the kneading process), so far it didn't give me any problem. You may also refer to this site for some detailed information on bread making (http://www.baking911.com/bread/101_intro.htm).

I think I know what you were referring to regarding 'fermented dough'..but I don't use this method as I find it quite troublesome. I do not think this is the main reason that your bread didn't turn out well.

As there are many factors affecting the outcome of the bread, you may wish to tell me more about how you went about making your bread? I am as eager to find out the reasons why your bread didnt turn out well after so many tries. I really admire your never-give-up attitude :)

hi hbb,I'm sorry to disturb again, but I was wondering what is the size of the baking tin that you used for the red bean macha loaf recipe. I'm not sure how big a tin a 250g bread flour recipe can fill. Also, does the tin need to be covered? If I don't have a bread tin can I used a cake tin instead or is it not high enough? thanks! :)

Hi Cookie Monster, no worries :)The size of my pullman tin is around L:7", B:4", ht: 4". If you give enough time for the second proofing (nowadays I let it proof until it reaches about 70-80% of the ht of my tin...takes about 1hr), 250g is able to fill up the tin...once in the oven, the dough will rise above the rim. You need not cover the tin, unless u want to bake a square loaf. The problem with the other type of cake/loaf tin (for quickbreads) they are not as deep, so the bread will not achieve the ht (shorten than the store-bought bread), and it will be more dense and less light and airy.

Thanks hbb! :) I hope to try soon. one final question. I realised that u sometimes mention abt how cold weather is not ideal for bread making. So taking into account the recent downpours, does it mean that it's not a good time for me to try? thanks!

Hi Cookie Monster, the room temperature will affect the time needed to proof the loaf. So you are a local?? On sunny days, it takes only an hour for the dough to double...but it took almost 2 hrs when the weather was cool, or rainy. The idea temperature for the dough to proof is around 28degC. So, depending whether you have the time, if not, you may not want to make bread when it is pouring.

Hi HHB, I finally baked my first loaf using your Crunchy Peanut Butter Bread recipe. It's wonderful letting the machine do all the work. I have a question, what yeast do you use? I suspect the weird taste is due to the yeast I used. Pls help.

I have enjoyed reading your blog for some time and I would like to compliment you on your photos, they all look fantastic to me. I like baking pandan chiffon cake and if you don't mind me adding my 2-cent's worth here, you really should try using real pandan juice. I don't bother with the blender because it doesn't extract the juice that well. I simply use the mortar/pestle thing to smash the pandan leaves and pound them until they become fibrous. It's really not difficult and takes only a few minutes. To me, the fragrance is further enhanced and made richer with about 1/4 tsp pandan essence with or without another 1/4 tsp of the pandan paste. The paste helps with the colour more than the fragrance. Do try and see if you like it. By the way, I also use Baking Mum's recipe for pandan chiffon cake, the one which uses prima flour ( but I sub cake flour) and I like it better than the other recipes on the net.

Hi MGBY, you can use the bread machine to bake this bread. However, you may get a thicker crust and the texture may not be that light and soft.

Hi Kat, glad to hear that you have great sucess with the nutella cake :) I have not made any mousse before, and I don't know where to get pouring cream with 18% fat. However, I have used Nestle cream which contains 25% milk fat for making chocolate ganache. Sorry, not much help here.

Hi Serena, thanks so much for your compliments and your useful tips! I have thot of using morta/pestle (that's what my mum used to do when she made pandan cake)...but sad to say, I don't have a set of morta/pesta either!! I used Baking Mum's recipe which is originally from Prima's website too. I used cake flour as well.

Hi Anonymous, the paste is not avilable at PH. Sun Lik is located at 33 Seah Street. Hope this helps.

hi HappyHomebaker, I'm a freshie in "blog world". I just make a pandan coconut muffin recently. But not as green as yours. Is the pandan essence with green coloring? I just used fresh pandan juice. Any different in terms of taste?

Hi Chris, the pandan paste I used comes with green colouring. I have not tried using fresh pandan juice, as such I am not sure about the difference in taste. I would love to use fresh pandan juice in future :)

Thanks dear. I only have the pandan leaves after I visited my mum. I tried to plant the pandan myself but does not grow well. It seems coloring is needed for baking stuff to be in dark green color. Anyway, TQ!

You're so talented!! You have to teach me how you shape your dough when its still moist. I have tried your recipes so many times but the dough is always too sloppy for me to knead with my hands, even after i leave the dough to rise for 3 hours!! I end up adding flour to it until it is kneadable, and then obviously when it comes out of then oven it is always too dry. =( How does your bread always end up looking so great?

Hi June, nah, I am not talented in any sense! It's just that I am more fortunate than others to have more time to practise my baking skills :) Ok, I always have a hard time trying to knead and shape the dough too! If I knead by hand, these soft bread recipes (which I like!) will usually take me anytime from 20-30mins of kneading to make it smooth and not stick to my hands. If I use the bread maker to do the kneading, even after 30mins of kneading, the dough may still feel sticking after letting it rise for 1.5hrs. I will usually flour the work surface with just a pinch or two of flour...then try to flatten/roll it by hand (it's useless to use the rolling pin, coz the dough will stick to it which is very frustrating)...and then try to roll it up by slowly scrapping it up from the work surface with a plastic scraper.

Try not to let the dough rise for more than 2hrs...the usual time for us here is about 1.5-2hrs at most (are you a local?). Over proofing may affect the taste of the bread. Hope I have answered your doubts...if not do feel free to ask me again :)

Hi HHB, how did the batter in the muffin tin for this chiffon cake turn out? I want to try chiffon cake but I don't have a tube pan. I only have normal cake pans or muffin pans. Will it sink in the middle if I use a normal pan?

Hi Happy Homebaker,I just tried to make your chiffon cake today and it turned out really good, so soft and fluffy. I used pandan paste from Phoon Huat. Definitely a recipe worth keeping for my future baking! Thanks to you and baking mom for the recipe. Warmest regards, Chris

I love your blog and it inspired me to bake everytime.I just tried baking the Pandan loaf last night and it's Fantastic.I would like to ask you with regards to the texture of the dough while shaping. It's soooo elastic that it seems impossible for me to roll them out to fold them, is it meant to be like that? The end result was still fantastic tho. ^^

my first ever pandan cake was this pandan chiffon cake by bakingmum. the recipe is really wonderful. cake turned out to be moist, fluffy and aromatic. the only thing is i used the same recipe for a 21cm tin and it turned out to be shorter.

I tried this today and the taste and texture was really great.. but I didn't get a brown looking cake like yours.. mine was floppy and green. Like I scrapped off too much and peeled off the brown layer. Did I underbake (I actually left it in the oven 5-8 mins more) or I really scrapped it off?

Hi lizziebeth, I am not sure what happened, as I am no expert in chiffon cake...I am as clueless ;pbut I saw your post, your chiffon looks great! I dont see anything wrong with the brown layer missing. Anyway, it could be due to the oven temperature, maybe you oven was not hot enough? or it could also be due to the beating and folding of the egg whites. I think you are doing good, just try a few more times to get a feel of it, I am sure you can get the idea chiffon cake you are looking for, keep it up :)

Hi Ling, I think it is best to follow the recipe to use coconut milk, as pandan cakes use coconut milk, otherwise you won't be able to achieve the same taste and fragrance? I am using this Koepoe Koepoe brand of pandan essence, you can use the bottle you bought since it sounds the same?? I am sorry I don't seems to be of much help here :(

Juz tried the chiffon cake this afternoon. The taste is great, but not the texture... it moist plus there's still have white spots in between the cake- I belief its from the egg white. And also it does not rise at all.

Hi, HHB, sorry to trouble you again. I try to baked the pandan chiffon follow the receipe link here. It sad to say that I failed.When I beat the egg white, I do it very carefully, and I stop beating when egg white form a nice hook when I lifted up the paddle.The cake did rise in the oven. However, when take out from oven, it sank! I did overturn the tin for the cake to cool down. The cake texture is like 'kueh', very compact (not fluffy). It only bake for 30 min, or I not bake enough time. Please advise, thank you.

Hi momkidspace, no worries :) Sorry to hear that your chiffon cake didnt turn out well. Is this your first time baking it? It is not easy to bake a chiffon cake, as a few factors will affect the outcome...such as beating of egg white; folding of the egg white to the yolk batter; and temperature of oven. Sounds like you have done the beating of the egg white correctly, I suspect it is the folding of the white. You may have deflated the batter. How did you go about doing it? Did you add the whites in 3 separation additions? Did you use a big spoon or a spatula to do the folding in?

Hi momkidspace, not sure what went wrong, maybe you want to take a look at video clips to show how the egg whites are being folded in? You can take a look at this video here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvL7EXf7_r0&feature=related) Hope this helps :)

HelloI recently trying to learn how to make breads and buns. I stumbled in to your website, and "Boy !!!" everything looks sooo...beautifully delicious. Unfortunately, my kids are allergic to eggs and mild, do you know of any bread recipes that does not call for eggs and milk (at least I can replace milk with coconut milk, but for the eggs, I'm not sure) Especially this pandan bread I love the color and the texture of the bread. Also do you have any recipes for kaya filling? Thank you so much for posting all these yummy.....foods. Lynn

Hi Lynn, thanks for visiting :)There are some recipes that do not require eggs and milk, however, they are mainly plain rolls/loaf (eg White Bread Roll, English Loaf). Eggs and butter will give a softer texture of the bread, however, I am not sure how to go about replacing it for this recipe. I am sorry I do not have any recipes for kaya, however, if you do a google search, I am sure you can find suitable kaya recipes. I am not of much help here :(

May I know where do you position your baking tins when you bake chiffon cakes or sponge cakes?

I always place my tin on the middle rack (I own a Baby belling) and my cakes are always sunken in at the bottom after unmolding. I was told that it might be because the ake is underbaked but I have usually already overbaked by 10 - 15 min.

Please help me. =( I have failed in my sponge and chiffon cakes so many times I'm soooo discouraged. =(

Hi Bakinggal, my oven is very small, I place the rack to the lowest position...the base of the pan is less than an inch from the bottom of the oven, and the tip of the tube pan is also around an inch away from the heating coils!There are several factors affecting the outcome of the cake. Are you referring to Chiffon cake when you mention that your cakes tend to sink in the middle? Sponge cakes and chiffon cakes are slightly different.For Chiffon cake, if you have beaten the egg whites to stiff peak, and have folded the whites to the yolks correctly, then it could be due to the oven temperature. Your oven temperature may not be accurate...did you preheat to the right temp before baking? When you do the doneness test (insert skewer into centre of cake) does the skewer comes out clean? On the other hand, if the egg whites are not beaten correctly, the structure of the cake will not be able to hold up and will collapse (sink).

Thanks for your reply!I usually put my cake pan in the middle of the oven. My baby belling is also not very big. It's a table top oven.

I don't have a chiffon tin so I baked it in a 7" round cake tin. After I turn the cake upside down for cooling, the bottom (Which is now the top after over turning) looks like a crater! There is a rim along the edges but the middle portin is sunken in.

As for the temperature, I preheated till 180 deg as per recipe, then after I open, the temp fell to about 160 deg.

I always use a skewer to check for doneness. When I wait till there's no crumb, the cake is very dry. So I took it out after there is a few loose crumbs left. the the cake seems overly moist and dense. =(

I think it might be because of the location of the tin. I will position it near to the base this time round and try again. =)

Will let you know how it goes. I'm also trying to start a blog. Is it ok if I link my page to yours?

Hi Baking, in this case you may want to consider getting a chiffon cake pan especially if you intend to make chiffon cakes regularly. I have assumed that you are using a chiffon cake pan. The tube in the chiffon cake pan helps to ensure a better circulation of heat.

hihi, i am also from singapore. would like to ask you where do you get your coconut milk. I tried sourcing for it in the NTUC fairprice supermarket, i can only see coconut cream. is it the same as coconut milk? Pls advise. :)

Hi Homegirl, you can use coconut cream if you can't find coconut milk. You can buy fresh coconut milk from wet market, or look for Ayam brand of coconut milk at Cold Storage. Note that coconut cream is slightly thicker than coconut milk. Hope this helps.

Hi Homegirl, you don't have to dilute the coconut cream. I have used coconut cream (I agree with you it is not easy to get packet coconut milk!) for both the chiffon cake and bread recipe, I didn't have problem with it.

Hi HHB,it's me again.. I tried making ur Pandan Loaf Bread today but it didn't turn our very well.. Previously when I made pizza bases (using ur recipes as well) I used hand kneading method n most of the time it rises well.. However today, I tried using an electric mixer but the dough still seems to be abit sticky after everything was added in. Nonetheless, I let it proof for an hr but this time it didn't rise as much as well.. As I was running out of time, I just send it to bake. It rose abit more but still did not fill up the whole pan. After any 20mins, the top was browner n I took it out.. I always have difficulty in unmoulding the bread. The bottom n sides r always stuck to the bottom (I did grease the pan before putting the dough in).. Any advise? N this time the crust was quite hard that I had difficulty slicing it. I have to remove all the crust before I'm able to slice them nicely. However the texture is considered ok. Quite soft but I think it could be better.. :)

Hi Hui,1. You may want to check whether your yeast is still active, sometimes I have problem with proofing too, and I found out later it was due to the yeast. Even though it is still within the expiry date, the yeast may be 'dead'. I have now resort to storing the yeast in the freezer compartment and so far so good.2. Crust that was hard: it could be the baking temperature, is this the first time you are baking a loaf? or maybe the dough did not proof well? and, did you proof it the second time after shaping/placing it in the loaf pan?3. This dough is quite wet and sticky, you can dust it with some flour to make it easier to shape.

Thanks for ur reply..But how to check if the yeast is dead or still alive? I used the sachets one from Red Man n I usually only keep it in the bottom compartment of the fridge (not freezer).. U mean it's ok to freeze yeast? Do we need to do anything to it the next time before we use it? (like defrost or whatever?)My 1st attempt on loaf bread is ur milk loaf.. I told u before it didn't proof well.. but subsequently when I made pizza bases, it proofed perfectly well.. This time it didn't proof well again. I was wondering if it has got anything to do with using an electric mixer? Cos previously I always knead by hand.. I guess the hard crust has got something to do with temperature. I always have difficulty unmoulding. Y is that so? And I dunno how to know if it's fully baked. (eg cakes n muffins, we can use skewer to poke n see).. I will just estimate the time. Haiz.. Btw for this pandan bread, it's only milk changed to coconut milk n add pandan flavour right? Do we still need to use butter? I did use butter this time..

Hi Hui, you can refer to this site on how to test the yeast (http://www.baking911.com/howto/yeast_proof.htm),to test for doneness of bread, refer here: (http://www.baking911.com/bread/101_bake.htm)You will need to grease your pan really well to prevent the loaf from sticking to it. After each use, clean the pan thoroughly, make sure there is no residue from the previous bake. If not, you can line your pan with parchment paper (especially the bottom).Yes, for this pandan bread I used butter.